Ren&eacute A. Guzman: This week’s comic pulls and, um, last week’s as well

I got so wrapped up in reporting “Halo 3” madness that I didn’t post my pulls for last week. And when I fall behind Comic Cast, well, that’s wack. So here are some reviews for last week’s stuff and what will likely be in my box this week.

Has it come to this? Have I actually joined the dark side to bag on John Romita Jr. like my luminous luminaries? Yep. Bad enough we get Greg Pak going preachy on us again — now JRJR appears to have phoned in his talents as well. It’s gotten to the point where the only thing I look forward to are the David Finch covers. Only one more to go. Thank goodness the badness is almost over.

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: This is the best AARP lovin’ “Lethal Weapon” knockoff I’ve ever read. The race is still on to save poor Grace the human bomb and it’s still full-tilt speedy fun. By far one of the best limited series out there. Certainly better than a certain global crapfest involving a certain big green dude.

“Waterworld” meets “Escape From New York” shouldn’t work, but it does. I liken “Zero Killer” to “DMZ” in that you have a very messed up Manhattan but you don’t have the intricate (complicated?) storytelling. Basically, you have a badass named Zero who kind of has a heart of gold but does his own thing anyway. Arvid Nelson has a nice idea here, certainly some nice writing. And Matt Camp’s art is gorgeous in its simplicity.

If you’d have told me some guy with My Chemical Romance would pen a relatively smart, not-too-absurd, action-packed tale of super kiddies with an Edward Gorey-ish sensibility, I would have laughed you right out of the room — laughed, I say! But this world by Gerard Way works so well on so many levels.

Maybe it’s Gabriel B&aacute’s pencils, dark yet delightful in all their Mike Mignola-esque glory. Or that the story looks like it’s just about strange powered kids, but is as much about them grown up, as they must deal with the loss of their mentor. Or that it has a talking chimp. Whatever, it’s very cool and very much worth your scratch.